YarnTalk

Slate on Ravelry

http://www.slate.com/id/2298584/

I do love Ravelry. I check the new projects several times a day. I also look at the pattern tester's group, although I have never offered to knit a sample. Before I buy yarn I have never used before I check to see what comments people have posted. I like to see what itches, what pills, and what bleeds. I also check to see who made what with the new yarns I have bought. I just invested in some Tillie yarns using a birthday discount, which brought the price down from super-high, to enjoying it luxury. It is satisfying to see how others have used it and it saves me from making mistakes. Yay, Ravelry! I am glad to see it getting credit for being wonderful. Here are some of my projects!

Kusha Kusha!

Every knitter has to make one. Everyone who lives in or passes through NY should visit the Habu studio. Sure, this is an endless knit.Sure knitting with stainless steel and thin thin yarn is awkward and the needle size changes... Put that all aside, but on your reading glasses and knit, knit, knit. When you are finally finished you will be proud of your architectural, pliable, can't pick wrong colors delight! On Ravelry, I am the 666th person to post my Kusha Kusha scarf. This has to be lucky, right?

Wisp in Kids Silk Haze

Wisp on Knitty is fun and easy. I never thought I couldn't handle mohair but there are more and more mohairs out there that are a little softer than the Rowan Kidsilk Night I used for my first. People comment on how complicated the pattern is but it isn't. Wisp is easy and fun. I am on a mohair kick now. I used Luna from S. Charles used for the Everyday Wrap from Cocoknits, and while it is a similar mohair blend as The KSH, it is much softer.

Mohair Compare

Knitty's Wisp pattern is hypnotic. It is the easiest lace knitting ever. It wears the Knitty 'mellow' label honestly. The pattern flows along quickly and is satisfying because it really looks like a complicated pattern but it isn't! When you make a mistake, and you know you will, just frog back a few rows. No tears, and no big sticking mohair mess because being knit on 8's it is loose enough to unravel. Nothing dramatic.

I had knit the Everyday Wrap from Cocoknits from a free Ravelry pattern. Lovely. I knit it with a cappuccino colored Stacy Charles Luna I bought with selection help from the wonderful Annie & Co. knits on Madison and 92nd.(ask for Alyssa)  The S. Charles is so much softer than KSH but look the same. Last week I got Craig's Loop update from their sumptuous Philadelphia shop saying that they now have Debbie Bliss Angel Mohair and Silk. Great colors. I am tempted but curious to know how it compares with its mohair sisters.I emailed this question to Knitter's Review. I know Clara Parkes will have an answer! I will let you know.

Manos Silk Blend

 
I made some Momogus mitts from Manos Silk last year. I like this faux cable stitch. Cute and quick. I keep buying Manos Silk in different colors, verigated and solids and I can't figure out what to do with them. I see over 7000 knitters on Ralvery have chosen patterns. Once again I will turn to them for inspiration.  I tend to buy a skein of yarn when I like it so I end up knitting mitts. cowls and just keeping the hank for admiring. When I quilted I bought FQs. Some quilters suggested always buying a yard or two or fabric if you like it. I knew I would then be swimming in yardage. Now I am swimming in fat quarters and single skeins!

Jared Flood Guernsey

What a great, fun pattern.  The Shepherd's Wool project just flew off the needles in a satisfying way. The pattern blocks offer natural mileposts- I would finish a whole segment before allowing myself to hold up the project and admire.  I bought the yarn at Fibre Space in Alexandria, Va. I was visiting my son in DC and took the quick trip over the bridge to see what Fibre Space had to offer. Beautiful shops with great yarn selection and someone interested helped me. There was a new display of Jared Flood's Shelter yarns and you can't beat the colors it comes in.Their display was sumptuous but alas, as with the Noro's frustrations, great colors but too rough for me. The surprise discovery of the Shepherds Wool softness saved the day and my lovely gray wrap is finished and sent off to Chicago, gifted to my pregnant daughter-in-law!

Honeysuckle? Think Pink!

I hope all of you have heard the big news! HONEYSUCKLE is the new new new color. Yep, ring in the New Year with something pink, or as close to pink as possible. Turquoise is so last year. I did see some fabulous tourquoise Madelinetosh at Annie & Company on Madison at 93 that I really wanted. Phew! Good thing I didn't buy it!

Click for more color-of-the-year news:

NY Daily News Honeysuckle is the Color of the Year for 2011, says Pantone; Pink replaces last year's turquoise.

Shine Honeysuckle: THE Color for 2011

Betty Confidential Honeysuckle Is The Color For Spring!

Kushu Kusha Scarf In Three Weeks

I knit my scarf in less than three weeks. Fun and easy, really. What is all the fuss about the difficulty?Straight forward stockinette stitch. OK, I always wear magnifying eyeglasses because the yarn is fine but it has a sturdy presence- not wispy and hard-to-catch-and-hold like a Kidsilk Haze. Bamboo needles are a must. They grip the stainless just enough to get the knitter to the next stitch.

The scarf looks sophisticated in its purple-on-purple tones. I enjoyed wearing it to various yarn shops during the NYC yarn crawl this weekend. I felt it gave me the knitter's coolness credibility! People did tend to touch it which was OK sometimes. A a couple of gals stretched the springy stainless, but that was my fault because I really encouraged them, but hey, the stainless sproinged right back in place! I am going to start another with brown tones I picked up at Habu.

Malabrigo Rios

My goal was to finish my Habu Kushu Kushu scarf in two weeks. I went to buy the yarn from Purl Soho because  I enjoy reading their blog, Purl Bee, plus they have a great color selection,. But I  happened to get there on a Saturday when they were closed for a plumbing problem!

Habu surprised me by being open on Saturdays, so I bought 2 different colorways to knit two scarves. Who could have foreseen  Malabrigo coming out with washable Rios so close to the time I learned I will be a Grandmother? Malabrigo in a washable? I started researching who had it on-line and who had it already on the shelves. I talked with the 2nd shop who has it on the phone -- Annie & Company Knitting in NYC.on Madison Ave. on the upper east side.  I asked the woman who answered to tell me about the yarn. She said it is just as wonderful as you could imagine. Squishy, soft and the colors, she promised, are incredible.  I drove in from NJ and the parking Gods were with me. What a beautiful store! What wonderful yarns!

I almost bought the Madelinetosh turquoise because it is so beautiful and beckoning but I stayed the course and got 3 skeins of Malabrigo Rios. I bought Indiecita, Purpuras and Candombe. I want more. I will get more. But for now, I am determined to finish my Kushu scarf within 3 weeks, but I do take short breaks to squeeze and admire my new Malabrigo. 

Needles Make the Difference

I have so many knitting needles. I have Addi's, Addi's lace, bamboo, plastic, metal. Circulars, straight, long and short. I have several Lantern Moon needles in two kinds of wood that are so beautiful but their little heads have all snapped off by now. Lantern Moon were so popular a couple of years ago. Expensive and nice but they have no give. You sit on them ONCE and the heads break off revealing that tiny screw the size of an eyeglass hinge. 

I get pleasure looking at my large coffee cans filled to overflowing with colorful needles, with the cords from circulars streaming down like maypole ribbons. This last week I have had great success with my latest Habu project, a purple on lavender Kusha Kusha scarf. I had started one a couple of years ago but the yarn had slipped off the needles over and over. I knotted and fixed the delicate stainless and super fine merino and ultimately gave up on this green and gray Kusha because it started looking like wilted lettuce.

This time I chose wooden needles determined to try this Habu project again and these needles make all the difference! The needle grabs the yarn just the right amount and my progress is smooth and fast and not a slippery mess! I got this tip from the Kusha Kusha Love group on Ravelry!   My big plan is to finish this scarf in under two weeks then head to NYC to Purl Soho for more stainless!